


Appalachian Moon

by sleepysteve



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: AU, Hiking, M/M, Recreational Drug Use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-07
Updated: 2018-10-07
Packaged: 2019-07-27 10:25:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16217111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleepysteve/pseuds/sleepysteve
Summary: A little scene of Molly and Caleb sitting together in the middle of the night. This is a scene inspired by the song appalachian moon by kevin reilly, part of an appalachian trail through-hiking au im casually working on.





	Appalachian Moon

**Author's Note:**

> hi there! i havent written fanfiction in literally five years and i'm pretty new to this fandom so forgive any uhhhhh shittiness. i have this idea for an appalachian trail through-hiking au because i love these babies and hiking and appalachia. this scene is just something i had to get out of my head and would take place way late in any full story. if people are into it though, i'll be motivated to actually write it all! so please comment your thoughts because i'd love to hear them! thanks for reading :)

When Caleb woke up in a cold sweat and climbed out of his and Nott’s tent, struggling to disentangle himself from her grasp in the process, thinking _I need to put out the fire and someone around here’s got to have a cigarette, right?_ the last thing he expected to find was Mollymauk, also awake, on the edge of the cliff, looking out over the hills.

Caleb jumped a little, but not wanting to startle his new purple (friend?) trail partner, he steadied himself. He tried to breathe like the prison psychiatrist and Nott had taught him, i _n for four hold for seven out for eight,_ he repeated.

“Oh.”

His eyes shot open to see Mollymauk looking at him over his shoulder, smiling softly.

“Can’t sleep either. Come and sit for a minute?”

Caleb didn’t respond.

“It’s awful lonely to sit with a nightmare. I promise I’m better company.” And Molly turned back around, brought something to his lips, and breathed out a puff of gray that dissipated quickly in the near-total darkness.

Caleb took one more deep breath and stepped to the cliff’s edge with Mollymauk, settling cross-legged on the smooth rocky ledge.

Molly looked over at him and smiled, and Caleb’s heart rate spiked again.

Molly chuckled, looking back out over the hills and passed his little glass pipe over to Caleb, who did not take it.

“It’s just weed. Not gonna poison ya.”

“Ha. Got a cigarette?”

Molly wordlessly reached into the breast pocket of his ridiculous patchwork coat (“Dolly Parton wrote that song about me”) and pulled out a box of American Spirits.

“ _Danke._ ” Caleb grabbed the yellow box and Molly’s shiny rainbow lighter. He didn’t smoke often, and he’d never admit to Nott that he did, but there are times when it feels like nothing will relieve his anxiety but the welcome burn of smoke in his lungs. It's backward, he knows, when nothing should trigger him more than suffocating on smoke, but the nicotine overpowers the residual anxiety and his brain quiets, if only for a bit.

He and Mollymauk sit in silence for some time, Molly looking up at the clear black sky and Caleb at the forest continuing below them in the valley. Just as Caleb is starting to drift off, thinking about maybe heading back into his tent, he hears the quiet, unsure voice of Molly.

“ _Cry, cry, suffer old Virginia_  
_Sing out all the work songs_  
_Gathered up in schools_  
_Don’t try, lover there’s no answer_  
_Unless in the mansion_  
_We were raised as fools._ ”

There’s a bit of a pause and some humming as Caleb turns to look at Molly, watching his red eyes as they sit on one star while he tries to remember the words.

“ _But you can’t fill anyone’s bottle on the loop_  
_And you can’t sleep under no Appalachian moon._

“I’ve had a hard time sleeping since we stopped moving.”

Caleb leaves a bit of space in case Molly decides to keep talking.

“I prefer we keep going north, too.”

Molly hums a little. Another moment’s pause.

“But the more we move along the trail, the closer we get to the end,” Molly says. He looks at Caleb, and Caleb feels he has no choice but to stare back into those red, red eyes.

“I’m not so sure I want this all to end.”

Caleb nods, breaks eye contact, licks his lips. Molly is still looking at him.

Caleb pats his shoulder, stands, his knees cracking.

“Goodnight, Mollymauk.”

Molly turns back to the hills.

“Don’t stay up too late.”

Molly nods his head a bit, the couple rings in his horns catching the very last of the embers in the pit behind him.

Caleb stands still for just a moment before heading back to his little canvas tent.

“Thank you, mister Caleb.”

He looks up to Molly one last time before crouching into the tent. He listens as Molly sings quietly to himself.


End file.
